Sharks raise their even-strength game to pull even in series

SAN JOSE, Calif. — When it has come to playing 5-on-5, the Golden Knights dominated the San Jose Sharks in their Western Conference semifinal series.

That all changed Wednesday in Game 4.

After managing just two goals while at full strength in the first three games, they scored a pair in the first period and added another one in the second period to serve as a catalyst in a 4-0 victory that tied the series 2-2.

Game 5 will be 7 p.m. Friday at T-Mobile Arena with Game 6 at 4:30 p.m. Sunday back in San Jose.

The Sharks had their moments at even strength prior to Wednesday. But they didn’t sustain it until Game 4, when they dominated in virtually every aspect over 60 minutes.

“I thought San Jose played harder than our guys,” coach Gerard Gallant said. “They won the individual battles at both ends of the rink and in front of the net. When you do that, you’re going to win hockey games.”

One thing the Knights had been doing well was pressuring as a five-man unit. But it was the Sharks that pressured throughout with their forwards providing support and keeping the play in front of them.

“They came out hard and skated well right off the bat,” Knights forward Jonathan Marchessault said. “They were good through the neutral zone. They were fast and we got caught a little sleeping in the first period.”

The Knights, who pride themselves on being able to roll out four lines, found themselves at the mercy of San Jose’s fourth line on the first goal. Marcus Sorensen used his speed and strength to elude Alex Tuch, then Colin Miller and eventually flip his shot over Marc-Andre Fleury.

The second goal was Joonas Donskoi using his legs to make an end-to-end rush in the final seconds of the opening period and use Brayden McNabb as a screen and beat Fleury from the high slot with 5.1 seconds to go.

Essentially, they beat the Knights at their own game. The third goal, a rebound Tomas Hertl put away after Mikkel Boedker’s wraparound try was stopped by Fleury, was the third even-strength goal of the night.

“To be honest, we’ve been really compact,” center Pierre-Edouard Bellemare said of why the Knights had been so good 5-on-5 in the series. “It’s tough to score when you have five men in front of you.”

Gallant said sometimes it’s the little things that make the difference when the teams are at even strength. He thought the Sharks played with a little more desperation Wednesday.

“I think they all played well,” Gallant said of the Sharks, whose bottom-six forwards dominated. “We didn’t get enough forecheck on their D. We didn’t play a bad game but we didn’t play well enough to win.”

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Contact Steve Carp at scarp@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2913. Follow @stevecarprj on Twitter.